Submarine Insurance
aphromann
Posts: 1
I am still an amature when it comes to microcontrollers, and have very little experience with C and SBasic. I have a submarine that has great moneuverability and depth, but the places I intend on taking it are tedious to drive the submarine. Its primary function will be to collect data on corries within Indiana, and the various marine life within them. Its secondary function is to act as an active fisherman, with an electroinc reel mounted on a variable x,z and y axises, (there is already a 50 lb carp I would like to fight). As such, I would like to invest in a 'insurance' system, that would allow the submarine to control when the sensors show that it has lost a signal, or has become stuck. The RC has a range of roughly 800ft in clear water, and even less for places where mud is a problem. The microcontroller I seek only needs to fill the following tasks, interpret sensor inputs from 1 sonar range, 1 accelerometer (three axises), and an array of four collision detectors (groups of five pressure sensors). To make the purpose of the submarine more beneficial, I intend to use it to collect data on water currents and temperature varriances, which do not require interpretation, but will have to be stored on a flash memory card.
To aide in its scientific purpose, I am planning on mounting a 3cm camera to the nose of the submarine, on a fixed axis, and require a method to store the video to a flash card, or telephone via bluetooth technology. (I have thought about purchasing the video transmitter and reciever, but its range seemed limited only to air transmissions, and have no idea what its range would be in water, as it is using light, not sound.) If there are any suggestions for what type of microcontroller to use, and any other aspects that were not thought of, please let me know. All equipment above has been found on the basicstamp website, basicx website and micro-cameras. The microcontroller will not have to interact with the RC beyond signal confirmation, and emergency override.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, and would help make a purposeful 'bot' to search for marine life. Thank you ahead of time.
To aide in its scientific purpose, I am planning on mounting a 3cm camera to the nose of the submarine, on a fixed axis, and require a method to store the video to a flash card, or telephone via bluetooth technology. (I have thought about purchasing the video transmitter and reciever, but its range seemed limited only to air transmissions, and have no idea what its range would be in water, as it is using light, not sound.) If there are any suggestions for what type of microcontroller to use, and any other aspects that were not thought of, please let me know. All equipment above has been found on the basicstamp website, basicx website and micro-cameras. The microcontroller will not have to interact with the RC beyond signal confirmation, and emergency override.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, and would help make a purposeful 'bot' to search for marine life. Thank you ahead of time.
Comments
Art
One - being new to microcontrollers it won't matter what you learn.
Two - both have up to 44 pins which means lots of sensor data
Three - both are used for more advanced things
The propeller chip can be viewed at http://www.parallax.com/propeller/index.asp·the advantage of the propeller is it has 8 cogs - in other words it can do different things at the same time.
The SX can be viewed at http://www.parallax.com/sx/index.asp
The SX is used with the CMU Camera so it has different capabilities.
I have both of them and·the BS2, but given that you are taking 4 clusters of 5 sensors each - total of 20 sensors - and want to use a camera and additional sensors my personal view is forget the BS2.
My opinion is to get a Propeller to run the sensors and an SX to run the camera. Check out the CMU for an idea of what I mean. There are two links http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30051· and· http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30008
The Propeller and SX can talk with other systems but the BS2 can't. Because of this the Propeller would make an excellent choice for everything but the camera and the SX would make an excellent choice for the camera. It also gives the option of getting more complex in the future and adding in a laptop or a computer to hold more data. In short you would have over 80 pins available between the two and if you run out you can link in other stuff, like a laptop or computer maybe. So your concept of collecting data on water current and tempurature would leave you with many unused pins with which you could expand in the future.
For water tempuratures look at http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/products/componentshop/sensors.asp·this link will give a very good idea of what can be had. Especally when you consider that the Thermocouple kit or digital thermometer (at the bottom of the page)·might be right up your alley.·If you want to measure water pressures then check out the Touch Sensor. For Accelerometors look at the middle of the page, there are single, double and tri axis available.
Oh ya - if you want to store the video why not just go with a standard video camera? Solves your memory problem. If you want to go with a smaller camera like you mentioned consider using a laptop or computer to run things. That would give lots of storage and computing power. Coupled with the things just mentioned you would have tremendous expansion and storage potiental.
Think of this for a moment. Instead of using 4 clusters of 5 sensors·for collision why not use each individually and place them on the outside so you get 20 seperate sensors instead of just 4. That would give you a much more precise location of collision and if programmed correctly, much better response control to a collision.
Good Luck.
Post Edited (AIman) : 10/5/2006 5:34:48 PM GMT
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The Propeller Microcontroller can do it all, including CCD camera image reading·and flash writing.· The learning curve is somewhat steeper than what you would experience with various Stamps in Class starter kits and texts.· It really helps to have prior microcontroller and object oriented programming language experience with the Propeller.· The Propeller Manual (PDF 4.62 MB)·has a brief tutorial that covers the fundamentals, and I would recommend checking out first.· If it works for you, then the Propeller Microcontroller is probably the way to go.·
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A more methodical learning curve would involve starting with either the BASIC Stamp Activity Kit or BASIC Stamp Discovery Kit to familiarize yourself with microcontroller programming and circuits.· Both are complete starter kits, and the accompanying What's a Microcontroller (PDF 5.72 MB) text has step by step documentation with lots of example circuits + programs to try as you go.· Also, the BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller included in both of those kits can interface with all the submarine subsystems you mentioned, including the camera if you use the simplification of triggering the shutter on a digital camera with a flash card.··
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These are just two examples of ways to get started.· The PDF documentation for most of our kits and educational texts are at the bottom of the corresponding product pages at www.parallax.com.· The documentation can also be found in various Downloads sections.· In terms of clicking around to find the option that's best for you, AIman included links to the Propeller and SX microcontroller pages.· The other places to look around would be in BASIC Stamp Modules and Educational Products.· For example, in the Educational Products page, the Applied Sensors Stamps in Class text will have some helpful fluid measurement information, and I would definitely recommend downloading and reviewing that PDF.·
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Andy Lindsay
Education Department
Parallax, Inc.
Thanks.